Report: Tight IT Worker Supply Hampers Growth

According to a new report, while the IT employment market picked up in November 2006, a tight labor market had its downside, too.

After slipping in October for the first time in more than a year, IT employment made headway in November, according a report released Dec. 12 by the trade association representing IT staffing and solutions firms, the NACCB (National Association of Computer Consultant Business), headquartered in Alexandria, Va.
IT employment grew by 5,300 workers in the month of November, to a grand total of more than 3.5 million IT workers in the U.S. According to the report, IT employment is up more than 132,000nearly 4 percentsince November 2005.

"While near 4 percent year-over-year growth in IT employment is impressive performance, this statistic alone does not fully convey the strength in demand for IT professionals. Unemployment rates in many IT occupations are among the lowest unemployment rates in the labor forceeffectively achieving in many cases Full Employment. I have no doubt that if there were more IT professionals available in high-demand skillsets, overall IT employment would post even stronger gains," said Mark Roberts, CEO of NACCB, in a statement.

Despite the strong IT job market growth, the NACCB asserts that even greater growth is hampered by a tight supply. Reflected in the strong demand for the services of IT staffing companies, the report notes that demand for IT talent is high, and makes it more difficult for companies to recruit the people they need through internal resources, even on a project basis.
Furthermore, companies are also turning to IT services firms to supplement their own staff or outsource entire projects.

The NACCB bases its IT Employment Index on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and is revised in accordance with it monthly.
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